10 Things I Hate About Valentine's Day

1. The Reservations.
Single or coupled, if you didn't make a reservation in January, your options for going out to dinner are limited to the local fast food drive-through.

2. The Greeting Cards.
The hour of our lives we waste every year in the greeting card aisle, looking for the perfect one.

3. The Flower Fund.
The overnight tripling of the price of roses, forcing your boyfriend to choose between getting you a bouquet of a dozen or paying his cable bill that month.

4. The TV Schedule.
The 24/7 romantic comedy marathon on TV during the month of February either makes you feel like a loser for being single or makes you resent your boyfriend for not being John Cusack.

5. The Relationship Conversation.
If you've had anything resembling a date in the past two months, it always prematurely launches the "where is this going?" conversation.

6. The Girls'-Night Cliche.
If you're single and lucky enough to have three close, single girlfriends, you can't go out in the town with them without being a cliche.

7. The Generic Gifts.
We don't need another stuffed teddy bear holding a heart or a cheap box of "guess the mystery filling" chocolates, thanks.

8. The Absent Cards.
They don't make Valentine's Day cards for friends-with-benefits or "I think I like you but it's too soon to tell."

9. The Bills.
We just started paying off our credit card bills from holiday shopping -- our bank statements can't handle another gift.

10. The Hearts.
Those gross taste-like-sidewalk-chalk conversation hearts.